Saturday, October 15, 2005

Human rights activists in Iraq claim there are no polling stations in parts of the predominantly Sunni province of Anbar, in western Iraq, for a referendum today on the country's new constitution.

Anbar, Iraq's largest province, runs from Baghdad to border Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia and is also the heartland of the Sunni-led insurgency.

Much of the population is expected to vote against the US-backed constitution.

"There are no voting centres in cities like Haditha, Hit, Rawa, Qaim, Ana, Baghdadi and the villages around them," said Mahmoud Salman al-Ani, a human rights activist in Ramadi, listing locations across the western province.

"There aren't actually any voting centres or even voting sheets in these cities ... Nobody knows how and where to vote if they decide to," he said of the predominantly Sunni Arab region.